Auto Lanka Web Site Enhansments

[nalakha]

HI.

I would like to make some suggestions regarding the web site.

1. Have the DATE of the advertisement on when they published it.

2. The status of the vehicle ( Available / Sold)

3. Take off the old vehicles that were sold.

I have contacted some of the people advertised and found out that some vehicles were already sold.

Best Regards and Keep on the good work.

Nalakha

[Watchman]

i would presume its the car o0wner's responsibility to notify AL when the vehicle's been sold, cos you cant expect Al admins to be calling up all advertisers on a regular basis just to check if their cars ave been sold. And I dont see a point in having a available/sold field if the 'sold' ones are going to be removed (hence presume that if its online, its available).

As for the date, i guess it could help some buyers since AFAIK the ads have no time duration (right?)

[Ripper]

i would presume its the car o0wner's responsibility to notify AL when the vehicle's been sold, cos you cant expect Al admins to be calling up all advertisers on a regular basis just to check if their cars ave been sold. And I dont see a point in having a available/sold field if the 'sold' ones are going to be removed (hence presume that if its online, its available).

As for the date, i guess it could help some buyers since AFAIK the ads have no time duration (right?)

IMHO having a "SOLD" tag has it's advantages too..Say for one, AL can be seen as having so many cars for sale and possible buyers and sellers can feel the site as a good spot to sell vehicles when they see lotsa "sold" cars. But admittedly you have to take these out after a while...maybe the "sold" tag should only be there for a week or so after the actual sale.

I too faced the same issue as this poster when i was hunting for a car about 2 years ago. Almost all the cars that fit my requirement that was on AL were all sold. Admins informed me that owners don't get back to them after the actual sale and some sellers who wrote on that topic had other views

I too think that it's best to have some form control over the matter cos it really sucks to be calling folks about their cars only to find out they have been sold weeks ago.

Somebody at the time was suggesting giving sellers an option to update the status weekly or the ad will expire automatically after 7 days. That sounded like a good idea if it can be done with software available to AL admins.

[nalakha]

HI...

Dilesh - Point taken...It is the owners respociblity to inform Auto Lanka (By the looks of it.. it doesn't Happen). And, I know the Admin(s) wont have time to contact each and everyone. It's not practical and costly. But the DATE tag of the Advertisements should be shown.

It would be ideal if there is an expiry for the ads.

For an example, assume, if auto lanka can set an expiry for the advertisement (20 or 30 days..) and regardless whether the vehicle is sold or not, it will be taken of the current list. so if the seller hasn't sold his vehicle, he can always contact auto lanka and renew it for abt 30 days or so.

With regard to the "Sold/ Available" tag. If you think That even the sold cars should be listed, In that case... those vehicles should be listed in a separate page. The whole purpose of some one searching the site is to find a vehicle that is available.. and not sold.

The whole purpose of these features are to make it more comprehensive web site. The web site should be user friendly and efficient.

I would like if Auto Lanka can Improve the search by adding the cost/amount of the vehicle in addition to the key word.

This will allow the buyer to select exactly what he or she wants, rather than going through pagers of information..

Cheers...!!!

Nalakha

[nalakha]

I hope at least one of the AutoLanka Admins went through my comments...!!!

I called a couple of sellers today and found out that all the vehicles were sold. ...Hmmmmm

Nalakha

[MADZ]

I hope at least one of the AutoLanka Admins went through my comments...!!!

I called a couple of sellers today and found out that all the vehicles were sold. ...Hmmmmm

Nalakha

Yes nalaka we noted your comments. Actually we do call our customers randomly to check the status of the vehicles. Once we found out that the vehicle has been sold out we immediately take off the Advert. I think within past few days along we removed around 200 odd such vehicles.

To minimize this issue we introduced a “Report This Ad” button so that anyone (buyer/seller) can inform us once it’s sold. As soon as we receive such requests after double checking with the owner we take off that vehicle. Therefore I kindly request all of you to use those facilities to improve our service.

Once again thanks for all the suggestions and yes we will put date posted on each Advert.

[nalakha]

Ahh ok..... that's good.

http://www.autolanka.com/ad.asp?ID=7735

- This was also sold yesterday when I spoke to him this morning... Please check

Regards,

Nalakha

[jehan80]

ignore pls

Edited October 17, 2008 by jehan80

[MasterDon]

Once we found out that the vehicle has been sold out we immediately take off the Advert. I think within past few days along we removed around 200 odd such vehicles.

rather than delete sold vehicles immediately,maybe you could keep them around for a couple of weeks with a caption saying that it's sold,it's good advertising for the site.

[jehan80]

rather than delete sold vehicles immediately,maybe you could keep them around for a couple of weeks with a caption saying that it's sold,it's good advertising for the site.

I find that really annoying . I've seen this sort of thing in some magazines. If I'm looking for a car i dont want to have to go past dozens and dozens of sold vehicles loaded in browser. AL is pretty slow as it is.

[MADZ]

rather than delete sold vehicles immediately,maybe you could keep them around for a couple of weeks with a caption saying that it's sold,it's good advertising for the site.

we use to do that long time back..but then due to customer complains specially from customers who use dial-up connections we took it off b'coz of unnecessary bandwidth/load time. so now we take off sold vehicles immediately once it's confirmed.

[nalakha]

Dear AL Admins,

OK in that case... you can have all sold vehicles in a different page. so that if anyone wants to go through the sold vehicles, the can view it in link/page.

IT would be ideal if AL can enhance the search by adding the following categories

1. Model (In a drop down or to enter)

2. Price (In a drop down or to enter)

3. Year (In a drop down or to enter)

This is addition to the "Key Word".

Specially for the Dial up users, having a comprehensive search will be very helpful when browsing for vehicles.

I have one more question... Does AL check the vehicle before advertising..? coz I have seen some cars saying the car is in "good condition". But when I saw these cars..... Maaaan..., These cars were hacked... parts broken and filthy... They were in very bad condition even though the pictures look good.

Why I am saying this is b'coz, I have spent over Rs. 3000 on 3wheelers... just to see that they are not up to the standard as they say so in the site. It's very frustrating.

Regards & Cheers...

Nalakha

[Pericles]

Dear AL Admins,

OK in that case... you can have all sold vehicles in a different page. so that if anyone wants to go through the sold vehicles, the can view it in link/page.

IT would be ideal if AL can enhance the search by adding the following categories

1. Model (In a drop down or to enter)

2. Price (In a drop down or to enter)

3. Year (In a drop down or to enter)

This is addition to the "Key Word".

Specially for the Dial up users, having a comprehensive search will be very helpful when browsing for vehicles.

I have one more question... Does AL check the vehicle before advertising..? coz I have seen some cars saying the car is in "good condition". But when I saw these cars..... Maaaan..., These cars were hacked... parts broken and filthy... They were in very bad condition even though the pictures look good.

Why I am saying this is b'coz, I have spent over Rs. 3000 on 3wheelers... just to see that they are not up to the standard as they say so in the site. It's very frustrating.

Regards & Cheers...

Nalakha

On a personal level, I don't think you can fault the medium for that. Thats the responsibility of the seller, and the seller gets to put what he wants, since he is paying for it. Unfortunate, coz we have had discussions on weird ads on the forum before, but thats how it is. If the seller catches it and asks to change, then Madz will change it. But if Madz says something like, "Your car looks like crap, so we shouldn't have this good condition part in the advert" The seller will take his money and go elsewhere.

As I know, Madz doesn't edit things to make sense. Hence the adverts with extra zeros and stuff. That leads to comments like "What? that bugger wants 15 mill for a civic? Insane!!!"

Just a possible idea Madz, you could try to develop some kinda review/feedback system. Where people who go to see the car can comment and review on the ads. Just throwing out an idea. I dunno if it'll be workable, since there is a lot of possibility for abuse, but it would be a nice value addition from AL if it can be done.

[nalakha]

AL Admins,

With regard to the above post, What I meant was, that it could be done in a form of RATING... The seller can give a rating for the vehicle and the AL Admin can give his rating also.

E.g.

Seller : Vehicle Condition - can give a rating of 8 out of 10

Auto Lanka : Vehicle Condition - can give a rating of 6 out of 10

or

Interior : 5/10

Exterior : 8/10

Options/features : 9 /10

Overall condition of the vehicle : 7.3 /10

And yes, I too like the idea of having a review/feedback system.

I would like to suggest another idea.... I don't know how practical it would be..

Can we have a separate page for for the buyers to advertise...? obviously at nominal price. And I know that there can be an adverse effect on the advertisements by sellers.

But, perhaps, may be by showing the contact information of the buyer to the sellers only you should be able to overcome the above issue.

just an idea.

any comments....?

Cheers...!!

Nalakha

[MasterDon]

AL Admins,

With regard to the above post, What I meant was, that it could be done in a form of RATING... The seller can give a rating for the vehicle and the AL Admin can give his rating also.

E.g.

Seller : Vehicle Condition - can give a rating of 8 out of 10

Auto Lanka : Vehicle Condition - can give a rating of 6 out of 10

is this tried or tested in anyother sites?

i don't think it'll work bro....too many complications...how can AL rate a car they haven't driven....it is up to the sellers to be honest.

[xXx]

is this tried or tested in anyother sites?

i don't think it'll work bro....too many complications...how can AL rate a car they haven't driven....it is up to the sellers to be honest.

i'm with helrazor on this. i think you boys are trying to over engineer a simple process. even the whole feedback idea can backfire by people making biased comments and even subject to abuse as peri has pointed out.

but i do agree the classified section does need an overhaul. been the main revenue stream it needs to be in the center of attention and more user friendly not having a proper search function is frustrating.

[nalakha]

NO I haven't seen any site with this feature.... But AL can be the first to have it....

But the rating is NOT based on performance but in terms of features, options, looks....etc... ( but if necessary.. AL can do a test drive)

I'm NOT trying to "Over Engineer" the simple process.... However, it would be nice to have these features... This is just an idea... adopting it or not is up to AL.

With regards to the search enhancements I mention above, Please go through the following site... you should be able to get an idea of what I have been saying

s r i l a n c a r s dot com / buy

- You would see how easy for a buyer to find a vehicle with this search...

Edited October 23, 2008 by nalakha